Book IV of the Rome series. Here is Gaius Julius Caesar's rise to prominence, beginning with his return to Rome in 68 B.C. to make the Forum a battlefield of words, plots, schemes and metaphorical assassination. Today's friend may be tomorrow's foe with political shifts and changes. And Caesar will prove that he is master of this battlefield as well. And his victories are not limited to the Forum. He conquers Rome's noblewomen: Servilia, powerful, vindictive and mother of a youth named Brutus; his mother, his daughter and Rome's revered Vestal Virgins. He is loved, yet to Caesar, love is simply another weapon.